ITV

Tag: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

  • Aishwarya among Indian stars to be invited for Cannes

    Aishwarya among Indian stars to be invited for Cannes

    MUMBAI: The French government has decided to specially invite Aishwarya Rai Bachchan at the Cannes Film Festival scheduled later this year. The festival is celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema.

    The Hum Dil De Chuke actress was conferred a civilian award by the French government for her contribution to the arts on the occasion of her birthday last year.

    Responding to a question, French Ambassador to India Francois Richier told reporters that the Bachchan bahu, as she is popularly known, is always respected in France because of her association with the Cannes film festival.

    "She is very dear to our heart and we are very grateful to her," said Richier, who had conferred the civilian award to the actress on behalf of the French government.

    Right from the time she has been endorsing a French cosmetic brand, Bachchan has for long been connected with the French.

  • Aishwarya Rai Bachchan becomes International Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS

    New Delhi: Leading actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been appointed global Ambassador for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

    The announcement was made today on the eve of the 67th United Nations General Assembly. In her new role, she will help raise awareness on issues related to stopping new HIV infections in children and advocate for increased access to antiretroviral treatment.

    Bachchan, a former Miss World, has been involved in humanitarian issues for many years and will now have a special focus on HIV. “I am honoured to accept this appointment. Spreading awareness on health issues, especially related to women and children, has always been a priority for me. And now, as a new mother, I can personally relate to this–the joys and concerns of every mother and the hopes that we have for our children. I strongly believe that every baby should be born free from HIV. And I wish that every woman living with HIV stays healthy and has access to treatment. I promise that with UNAIDS, I will do my utmost to make this happen.”

    UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé welcomed Bachchan to the UNAIDS family. “Mrs Rai Bachchan is respected and admired by millions of people around the world,” said Mr Sidibé. “I am convinced that through her global outreach, Mrs Rai Bachchan can help UNAIDS reach its goal of eliminating new HIV infections among children by 2015.”

    The main focus of Bachchan will be to advocate for the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children and keeping their mothers alive. This plan was launched at the United Nations in June 2011.

    The Global Plan focuses on 22 countries including India, which account for more than 90% of all new HIV infections among children. Twenty one of them are in sub-Saharan Africa, where the estimated number of children newly infected with HIV fell by 25%, from 360 000 in 2009 to 270 000 in 2011. Progress in sub-Saharan Africa has been made possible through rapid improvement in access to services that prevent new infections in children. There was a dramatic increase in coverage of services in the 21 sub-Saharan African countries between 2009 and 2011: from 34% to 61%. HIV transmission rates from mother-to child have also declined since 2010 with the introduction of more effective prophylaxis regimens.

    “Through her work in raising awareness of the issues and advocating for increased access to services Mrs Rai Bachchan will be instrumental in helping to ensure that no more babies are born with HIV and that their mothers stay alive and healthy,” said Sidibé. “We look forward to working with her to reach our collective goals.”

  • Three UTV films to screen at the Shanghai Intl Film Festival

    Three UTV films to screen at the Shanghai Intl Film Festival

    MUMBAI: Three films from the UTV stable, Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, Dhobi Ghat and Bollywood: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, have been selected to be screened at the 15th Shanghai International Film Festival to be held in Shanghai from 16 to 24 June. The films will be presented in the Panorama Section of the festival.

    Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu has been produced by UTV and Dharma Productions and directed by Shakun Batra, while Dhobi Ghat is produced by Aamir Khan Productions and directed by Kiran Rao and has UTV as its distributor. Bollywood is produced by UTV and Shekhar Kapur and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Jeff Zimbalist.

    Disney UTV executive director – syndication, International distribution and Disney Media Distribution, Studios Amrita Pandey said, “China is a booming market for movies and is growing at a scorching pace. There is an increasing interest for Indian content in many Asian markets like China, South Korea and Taiwan. We recently released Delhi Belly in mainstream cinemas in Hong Kong and we have seen an encouraging response.

    “At UTV, we send our movies to film festivals in our focus markets and The Shanghai International Film Festival is a perfect platform to showcase our movies and to get an opportunity for 3 movies is a rare honour!”

    UTV Motion Pictures‘ foray into newer markets like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Latin America, South Korea, Turkey, Romania, Russia, and Italy has led to the wider showcasing of films produced by the studio.

    In the past, many of UTV‘s titles including Jodhaa Akbar, A Wednesday!, Welcome to Sajjanpur, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Chillar Party and Welcome to Sajjanpur and more recently Delhi Belly and Paan Singh Tomar have travelled in the festival circuit.

    Earlier, UTV‘s Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan-starrer Jodhaa Akbar was screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival in 2009.

  • Cannes fest to be mix of glamour and Cinema this year

    Cannes fest to be mix of glamour and Cinema this year

    MUMBAI: This year’s Cannes Film Festival is set to be a mix of glamour and cinema. While Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Freida Pinto will grace the opening ceremony, four Indian films will be premiered at the festival.

    Anurag Kashyap‘s Gangs of Wasseypur will have its premiere in the non-competitive Directors‘ Fortnight section. Peddlers and Ashim Ahluwalia‘s Miss Lovely will also be screened. Also set to screen will be Chana, directed by Nikhil Pherwani.

    Sonam Kapoor will walk the red carpet at the closing ceremony of the festival.

  • Eros sells film telecast rights to Korea Telecom

    Eros sells film telecast rights to Korea Telecom

    MUMBAI: Eros International has sold the telecast rights for 50 films to Korea Telecom (KT).

    The South Korean company will be able to exploit these films across various platforms including IPTV, mobile and Internet.

    The deal includes titles like Yamla Pagla Deewana, Chalo Dilli, Housefull, No Problem, London Dreams and De Dana Dan among others.

    “Considering the huge fan following Bollywood movies have in South Korea and with our library of over 2,000 movies, we thought this was an ideal opportunity to exploit our content,” Eros International senior vice president, business development Kumar Ahuja said.

    All the selected titles will be shown on KT’s Olleh TV platform.

    Eros has also signed a deal with Korea’s Inyoung Trading for the theatrical release of Tamil blockbuster Endhiran (Robot) that stars Rajnikant and Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan.

  • Busan fest to screen 307 films from 70 countries

    Busan fest to screen 307 films from 70 countries

    MUMBAI: The 16th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has announced the lineup of films that will be screened at the festival from 6 to 14 October.


    This year‘s programme has a total of 307 films from 70 countries with 135 World and International premieres.
     
    Among the films from India that would be screened in the ‘A Window On Asian Cinema’ section of the festival are the Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan-starrer Guzaarish. Other films that would be screened in the section are Santosh Sivan’s Urumi, Gurvider Singh’s Alms For A Blind Horse and Amol Gupte’s Stanley Ka Dabba.


    While South Korean director Song Il-gon’s Always will open the festival, Japanese film Chronicle Of My Brother by Harada Masato will be the closing film.

  • Jagmohan Mundhra passes away

    Jagmohan Mundhra passes away

    MUMBAI: Film director Jagmohan Mundhra passed away in Mumbai on Sunday.

    The 62-year-old died of peptic ulcer and was in the hospital for the last couple of days.

    Mundhra was known for issue-oriented films like Bawandar and the Aishwarya Rai Bachchan-starrer Provoked.

    Born in 1948 in a conservative Marwadi family, Mundhra studied engineering at IIT Mumbai and then moved to the US to do his M.Sc. But his ultimate calling was filmmaking. In 1982, he made Suraag with Sanjeev Kumar and Shabana Azmi in lead roles. This was followed up Kamla, a women-centric film which had Shabana Azmi and Deepti Naval.

    A regular at FICCI, Mundhra was immensely interested in different aspects of the current-day filmmaking.

    His last directorial venture was Naughty@40. He was preparing to shoot a satire, Kissa Kutte Ka. He was very keen to make a film on Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

  • Times Now launches weekend show

    Times Now launches weekend show

    MUMBAI: Times Now, the English news channel from the Times Group, is launching a new weekend show, My Story, starting 13 November.

    A celebrity driven show, My Story will give the viewers an opportunity to know their icon beyond the roles they have played on the celluloid screen.  
         
      It is an autobiography, as the celebrities will take the liberty to talk about their personal life and go beyond platitudes to connect with their fans.

    Every week a new icon from the tinsel world will take viewers through their experiences, inspiration and encapsulate iconic moments from their best works which received acclaim. The show will also feature family members, friends and co stars who have shared the silver screen.

    The show‘s first episode will see Aishwarya Rai Bachchan sharing secrets behind her success. She will talk about the different roles which have sculpted her personality and given a different dimension to her career as an actress.

    The show will be aired on Saturdays at 10.30 am and 9.30 pm and Sundays at 10.30 am and 5.30 pm.